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SF Moving Toward Bike Sharing Program

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (BRAIN)—San Francisco is moving closer to adopting a bike sharing program, akin to what many European cities already have, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Last month, according to the Chronicle, Paris started the most ambitious program yet, providing more than 10,000 bikes at 750 stations and expecting that the program will be double in size by year's end.

A proposed San Francisco contract with Clear Channel Outdoor Inc. that gives the company advertising rights on transit shelters also would require the company to set up a bike-sharing program if the city opts for one. The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on the contract this month, according to the Chronicle.

The cost to use such a program would be free or nominal, San Francisco leaders say, pointing to the Paris project as a possible model.

"The appetite for the system is there, and people will naturally gravitate toward it," said mayor Gavin Newsom to the Chronicle, who lobbied for the bike-sharing provision in the contract.